Media Matters developing ‘opposition research’ on Fox, has list of ‘every single person’ at network

Politico published an eye-opening report on Saturday by Ben Smith about “Media Matters’ war against Fox.” Smith wrote that the organization continues to transform itself into an exclusively Fox News-battling group.

Media Matters founder David Brock told Politico that his organization’s activism has developed into a “war on Fox.” This strategy includes extensive work to compile intelligence on the employees of the cable news channel.

“We made a list of every single person who works for Fox and tried to figure out who might be disgruntled and why, and we went out to try to meet them,” Media Matters executive vice president Ari Rabin-Havt told Politico. “Somebody in that organization is giving us primary source documents.”

Rabin-Havt also told Politico that Media Matters was compiling “opposition research” files on “mid- and senior-level execs and producers.”

“Criticizing Fox News has nothing to do with criticizing the press,” read a 2010 memo by Brock that was acquired by Politico. “Fox News is not a news organization. It is the de facto leader of the GOP, and it is long past time that it is treated as such by the media, elected officials and the public.”

Brock was formerly a conservative journalist. In 1993 he wrote an award-winning investigation for The American Spectator about Bill Clinton’s sex life as governor of Arkansas. In 2004 Brock founded Media Matters after expressing regret for his past as a conservative journalist.